Deviation (Clone Chronicles #2)(44)
By the time I’m ready, Alton is already there to escort me to the door. Every light in the house is on, as if it isn’t fast approaching the middle of the night. Maria, still in her dressing gown, hurries ahead of us to help Titus with his coat. He stands in the tiled entryway, his suit jacket and winter coat melding into a sea of grayish blue. I can smell his cologne from here and his black shoes reflect the light above. He is pressed and polished and again, I am struck by how normal it seems to all of them to be venturing out in the middle of the night to who knows where.
Maria helps Titus straighten his coat collar. He barely looks at her as he lets her adjust his scarf and hand him his gloves. I wonder if he’s ever really seen any of his staff, unless they’re doing something wrong. For the first time in my memory, I wish I was invisible again, like I had been in the City. Invisible in the way that I wasn’t constantly walking from one attack to the next. Alton dons his coat and shoves his thick finger against the call button for the elevator. The access door to the stairs opens and three more guards appear, all wearing thick black jackets.
“Let’s go,” Titus says when the elevator door pings and opens.
I am sandwiched between Alton and Deitrich. From where I stand, I can just barely see the black ink peeking out from underneath Alton’s sleeve. It makes my veins hum with adrenaline, although I still have no idea what to do with the knowledge that he is like me. It didn’t help with Gus and I suspect it won’t help now.
The elevator doors open, revealing at least a dozen more guards. The moment we step into the lobby, we are engulfed in a full security escort. I have no idea why Titus needs so many men or if this is a good thing that to have so many witnesses to wherever he’s taking me. Not that a single one would lift a finger to help me.
The car waits just outside the revolving central door of the lobby. I follow Titus and Alton into the night air, glad for the warmth of the sweater and pants Maria gave me instead of Raven’s usual skirts and dresses.
Six steps later, I am climbing in the backseat of the car whose midnight paint job blends in with the moonless sky overhead. Around and above us, white lights wink at me from the streetlamps. The high-rise buildings of uptown surround us. No one is about on the streets. Farther up, I can see red taillights stopped at the intersection. The light turns green and it revs away, spitting a cloud of warm exhaust in its wake. Otherwise, the streets are deserted.
Titus settles himself on the bench seat across from me and I’m shoved aside so that Alton can slide in beside me. I move toward the far window but the car door opens and two guards slide in so that I’m stuck in the middle. I slump back, hating that I have to brush against either man. This sort of closeness unnerves me and makes my skin crawl.
I can feel Titus watching me but I don’t look. I don’t want to see his face in case he’s wearing that smug smile again. I concentrate on touching the men beside me as little as possible while I buckle my seatbelt. When it clicks into place, I lean back and rest my head on the leather seat. The doors close and Titus taps the partition to signal we’re ready. We ease forward and I shut my eyes, pretending I don’t care whether I live through the night.
Chapter Thirteen
The moon is nowhere. I look for it out the windows as the scenery changes from urban to rural and the lights fade away behind us. The highway is less bumpy out here, the wheat fields stretching for miles on either side. It reminds me of a ride I took on Linc’s motorcycle. It was months ago now but feels like yesterday. I remember the urge to flee into the forest and my decision to stay. Mostly it was for Linc but, even then, I felt an underlying determination to help the rest of my kind.
Not that I’ve done any of them a bit of good.
Ida’s face swims in my mind. It blends with Obadiah’s but I shove his away. I don’t want to think about him and Morton and the others right now. Even within the safety of my thoughts, it feels dangerous with Titus sitting three feet away. I think instead of Ida and Lonnie. They are in the sleeping room, lulled by the hum of the pipes and the steady breathing of a room full of girls.
I miss it. I miss them. The meticulous schedule, the bland clothing, the rough sheets. Everything about my life in Twig City is a bittersweet loss, a fragmented piece of who I wish I could be again if only it meant leaving this life behind.
Except … Linc.
Just thinking his name brings with it such a warmth that I know I’m lying to myself. I would never go back. I accept this life—the swollen eye, the bruised cheek, all of it. And I know without a doubt I won’t willingly leave a shred of it behind unless he comes with me. Twig City is my past and I hope with everything in me that Linc is my future.
As if my thoughts have manifested him, my ears prick at a faint growl in the distance. It is the sort of noise only a two-wheeled engine can make. I stare past Alton’s shoulder and out the back windshield, straining to see a single headlight somewhere behind us. But the darkness in our wake is undisturbed on this rural, unlit road. A moment later, the sound fades and it’s only me and a limousine full of villains.
The car slows and turns left. I glance at Titus questioningly but his expression gives nothing away. He is typing on his phone, not even looking at me. I peer out the window. On either side of the narrow highway, grassy fields extend into the darkness, disappearing into forests in the distance. I can’t see what’s ahead with the partition in the way, so I continue to watch out the window for some clue of where we are. The farther we go, the closer the trees become until the forest’s edge encroaches on the now-winding road. Tall pines line both sides of the narrow lane.